First Take: F1: The Movie - it really is lights out and away we go

SYNOPSIS: Racing legend Sonny Hayes is coaxed out of retirement to lead a struggling Formula 1 team—and mentor a young hotshot driver—while chasing one more chance at glory.

Spoiler free as usual. Because we’re totally spoiling an older F1 movie in The Journal soon.

Bankrolled by Apple, made with the full support and cooperation of the FIA, and with Sir Lewis Hamilton himself as a producer, you would imagine expectations for Hollywood’s first fully licensed foray into the greatest sport on four wheels would deliver the goods. Having seen it on one of its MANY premium large format versions, F1 is a movie which nails it with its style, but leaves a lot to be desired with its plot.

Joseph Kosinski takes up the directors chair on this one, and with his track record recently he feels like the natural choice - having helmed Top Gun Maverick, he turns in a 2 hour 36 minute film that feels made for IMAX, Hypersense, and whatever large formatted, Dolby Atmos equipped screen you have available, but while it works so well visually, Ehren Kruger’s script (which had it not been for WGA bickering, should’ve had Kosinski credited too) has its ups and downs - some elements around the characters could’ve been handled better, and sadly, my main issue WOULD constitute as a spoiler. What I can say is that I’m surprised the FIA allowed them to use that incident like they did, but airbrushing history like that for narrative effect just didn’t sit right with me. I have to really big up Claudio Miranda’s work as cinematographer though because my god has he pushed the envelope to get crystal clear footage in every scenario - from the drama, to actually seeing talent in the cars at over 200mph, it is a technical feat to put it simply and it’s the reason this film has got the big screens. And for the second time in his career, Hans Zimmer is the man tasked with soundtrack duties on a movie about F1… and unlike his work on Rush (which it sounds like he borrowed from a lot), this one sounds very of its time, not just with the collaborations on tracks for the film, but also some of the needle drops. Let’s just say opening on that Led Zeppelin track, a band notorious for being very picky about licensing, set the tone.

Onto the cast, and Brad Pitt leads it relatively well with his apparent love of anything with an engine these days (he’s co-producing a film about the Isle of Man TT next), with Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem, and Tobias Menzies providing some solid supporting talent. I think the standout in this one was Damson Idris though, playing a plucky upstart driver, obsessed with media, and acting as the perfect foil in a way to Pitt’s older but not as wiser character. Plus for fans of the sport - all the drivers of the 2024 season pop up - so Verstappen, Lando, Stroll, Russell, Leclerc… everyone is present and correct, even Toto Woolf gets a line of dialogue! On top of that, they got Sky’s team from the British F1 coverage involved. Natalie Pinkham pops up in a cameo, and of course you get to hear Crofty utter those iconic words to start each race off (despite him and Martin Brundle clearly sounding like they’re reading a script rather than commentating). Baked in authenticity, especially with Pitt and the production functioning as an actual team with a modified F2 car during race weekends, this film feels like the natural evolution of where Formula 1 as a brand has gone in the Drive to Survive era. Maybe rugby union can learn from this approach, just saying…

THE VERDICT

F1 is a proper big screen movie, but not one without flaws in its engine. A relatively flat narrative (and a very surprising use of one of the most is redeemed by some true edge of seat race sequences that are rivalled only by a film we’ll be revisiting on the YouTube channel in exactly 21 hours as I write this up. This really is where the summer of cinema begins, because it’s gonna be up against some huge films now. $300million to claw back, good luck Apple…

RATING: 4/5